Judges

I currently work at IBM as a Business Analyst based out of Armonk, NY. I began my career at IBM as an intern about a year ago. I fell in love with my role and the company and transitioned from intern to full time this winter! I graduated magna cum laude from Marist College as a student-athlete studying Applied Mathematics along with Data Science and Analytics with a minor in Computer Science. Some of my hobbies include hiking, gardening, and giving back to the community!

She has worked with several leading digital marketing agencies, creative agencies, and well-known brands such as Nikon, Kodak, and Access Bank, with over 7 years of industry experience. Driven by the mission to create timeless footprints in the digital media/tech space, she founded “Apeiron Creatives”. She is a prolific writer, creative, educator, poetess, development enthusiast, data/business analyst and an SDGs champion.

Joshen began his career at the YMCA of Greater New York, delivering leadership, civic engagement, and STEM based programming to Middle School and High School aged youth. He is passionate about providing youth with opportunities to create a brighter future for themselves. Outside of work, you can find Joshen binge-listening to podcasts or chasing after his fluff-ball pet chinchilla!

 

Rudy serves as Director and Head of Enterprise HW Security Engineering.
Responsible for setting cybersecurity strategy and security policies and driving technology in enterprise hardware products with partners and development organizations. Work closely aligned with peer security leaders to influence supply chain outcomes.

Meet our seasoned marketing leader - a creative powerhouse with a proven track record of delivering innovative marketing strategies. With 15 years of experience in the technology industry, she has honed her skills in crafting compelling content, and executing successful campaigns across various channels. She is a passionate and dynamic leader who knows how to motivate and inspire her team to deliver outstanding results. In short, we're lucky to have her on board!

I am 41 years old, born and raised in Germany, married for almost 15 years and proud father of two.
Over the past 23 years, I've worked in various roles in Germany, Australia and now the US. I spent the first 4.5 years in the German Airforce and since then worked in the IT industry. I am now leading a team of 12 Technical Account Managers who are taking care of two of our most strategic customers here at Salesforce.
I love to play computer games, cooking and of course my kids. And LEGO ... :-)

I have a background in Psychology and transitioned to education once I fell in love with curriculum development. I enjoy supporting students' growth, learning, and opening doors to potential career paths. By connecting mentors with our Design League students, they can see themselves as UX/UI designers, Software developers, etc. to further diversify the STEAM career fields.

I loved technology when I was a little kid! I would go to yard sales and buy remote controls just to open them up and investigate the chip inside. As I went through school, though, my chances to study technology and computer science was limited. I do not remember a single thing that I learned between grades K and 12. This affected me in college.

I chose to study biology and pre-med since I had experience with them, knew that I enjoyed them, and knew that I could do well in them. I was intrigued by CS, but I didn't want to take a class, risking thousands of dollars in tuition on a subject that I didn't know if I would be good at or enjoy. I distinctly remember seeing the CS majors' projects, programming robots to play music and dance around the floor, and wishing that I could do that...yet I never did.

Fast forward a few years, and I am a high school science teacher. A friend tells me about an opportunity to be trained in something called Exploring Computer Science, an introductory high school curriculum for students with little-to-no background in CS. This is perfect! I can provide my students with the opportunities that I wish I had in school. I ended up creating a pathway for students to take ECS, AP CSP, and AP CSA, but I knew that I had done all I could at that school.

I left to become a professional developer. I now spend my time designing and implementing trainings for K-12 teachers who want to start teaching CS, either as a standalone class or integrated into another subject area. And I still occasionally run coding events for kids at my local library.

Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Ph.D. is an artist, writer, and Associate Professor at Lehman College / CUNY. His work has been exhibited at venues such as SFMOMA, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Art, MOMA, ICA London, Whitney Museum of American Art, Palais du Tokyo, Tate Modern, Ars Electronica, Transmediale, and more. His writing has appeared in publications such as WIRED and Make and his Scrapyard Challenge workshops have been held in over 15 countries on 5 continents.

Diamond Butler is a New York native dedicated to youth and community development. Her interests in international affairs sprouted while interning at the International Rescue Committee.

After graduating from Cheyney University with a degree in political science, Diamond worked on various political campaigns while teaching workshops for the 181st Beautification Project. She then became the Director of Youth Programming and Internships at the United Palace in Washington Heights for several years. She also worked with the YMCA of Greater New York Global Teens program where she had the opportunity to lead students on service-learning trips to California and South Africa. Butler served in the Peace Corps as an English teacher in Comoros while working on various community projects. Diamond is a proud Community School Director for Global Kids at Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists (BSSWA).

Lauren is a software engineer focused on writing compilers for quantum computers. She graduated with a double major in Physics and Computer Science from UC Berkeley.

Michael is a Senior Product Manager at Range Financial, which aims to bring wealth management tools to the masses using technology and AI. He has worked in product in many industries including trucking, insurance, and project management. Before doing product, he was a trader on wall street and data scientist. He lives in Williamsburg.

Hey, my name is Isaac. I have been doing design and web application development work for over 19 years. I enjoy solving hard problems with code and love getting the job done. I've worked with various frameworks/libraries and languages; PHP, MySQL, CSS, Sass, Vuejs, Reactjs, WordPress, WooCommerce, Laravel and Rails, just to name a few. I consider myself a full stack web application developer and can jump into a project and become quickly rooted. I’m continuously reading and watching videos involving learning tutorials.... and that's what I do just for fun! I find it very fulfilling when a project has successfully been completed or when a full-on launch has deployed glitch-free. That’s just a little bit about me, but I would love to hear more about you and your project and how we can potentially work together.

I am a 2021 graduate from the University of California, San Diego where I studied International Business with a double minor in Design and Psychology. Born and raised in Southern California, I fell into design by accident-- joining yearbook sophomore year of high school with my friends. From there I explored digital design that led me to part-time graphic design roles in college, opening the door to UI/UX. I'm currently at IBM as an experience design & mobile consultant in New York City.

I'm an IT professional specializing in cloud systems administration and cybersecurity. I manage the company's cloud infrastructure and maintain processes and tools to safeguard data, balance user access, and educate on best practices. Additionally, I provide end-user PC support, handle system updates, and procure hardware.

As a Strategic Global Talent Partner, Tina's emphasis has been within the Americas, APAC, LATAM, and EMEA. Having spent her career broadly across Executive Search, Corporate, RPO, and in recent years amongst various hyper-growth Startups; where she has helped scale by doubling-to-tripling headcount.

With extensive experience and knowledge building and leading Talent Teams, Tina has a strong focus on implementation and execution of recruiting plans, retention plans, metrics, systems (including ATS, CRM, People Management, etc.), and DEI initiatives. Additionally, her experience spans across functional areas of HR including; compensation, benefits, compliance, and training & development.

Tina has participated in various speaking engagements and conferences to discuss HR | Recruitment | Talent Acquisition on a global scale.

• I build and scale organizational programs within the tech industry that promote employee welfare, talent acquisition, and professional development within the workplace.
• Currently pursuing my Master of Science degree in Human Resources Management from Stony Brook University
• I love supporting young people with navigating the ambiguities that come with entering the professional market, and leverage my own personal experiences to demonstrate that everyone's path to success is unique.

I'm Nadia, a technology enthusiast who also happened to be a software engineer!